


Reprogramming Computer... || A Voltron fan fiction

by Blazing_Fire01



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Blood and Gore, F/M, Female Pidge | Katie Holt, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Flashbacks, Injured Pidge, Injury, Korean Keith (Voltron), M/M, Minor Character Death, Minor Character(s), Minor Original Character(s), Post-Season/Series 06, Psychological Torture, SHIDGE, The Holt siblings, Torture, Violence, angst is good for the soul, haggar is fucking things up, ill hate myself later, pidge injury, pidge is captured by the galra, the garrison trio
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-17
Updated: 2018-07-06
Packaged: 2019-05-24 11:17:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 17,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14953662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blazing_Fire01/pseuds/Blazing_Fire01
Summary: “How is it possible that the paladins are alive?” Haggar’s mouth twisted into disgust as she looked over her shoulder. The champion had set the virus. She was sure of it.The druid stood there, uneasy and unsure. “We have word that it was the green paladin,” he spoke in a low tone, trying his hardest not to show his fear of the witch.Haggar hesitated, deep in thought. Out of all of the paladins, the green one was one of the ones she knew least about. Only that her brother and father had both been prisoners. Her brother had been one of the first defeated by The Champion.“Bring her to me.”--Pidge is missing, captured by the Galra. The only question? Why?





	1. 1. the beginning

When it had been decided that they had to return back to earth, the paladins of Voltron had realized that it was easier said than done. After what was estimated to be three weeks of traveling, the team found themselves on a distant planet with a snow-like terrain. Though the Galra had been suspiciously silent, they were still often fighting monsters and creatures that inhabited their hosting planets.   
At the time, the whole crew sat around a crackling, open flame, shivering in the cold. Pidge, Matt, and Hunk were huddled under one blanket, Pidge between the two boys, Allura and Romelle were under another, Krolia and Keith were under a third, finally Lance and Coran were seated in a fourth. Shiro had insisted, that after only finding that they had four blankets to go around, he would take one for the team.   
The green paladin had still noticed him shivering, however, even though he sat closest to the fire. Hesitating, her brown eyes scanned him. Nightfall was approaching, making everything a steel grey color except for what the fire touched. This made his white hair a mix of white and grey, making him look even older.   
Since the whole incident, Pidge had definitely been wary around the black paladin. Though she had been the only one who he didn’t physically hurt, she was still scared of him. Even after what Keith explained. Neither Pidge or Hunk had had the time to even run over plans for a new prosthetic for the team’s leader. Pidge had an ever growing pile in her lion, but none of them well thought through enough.   
Despite her wariness, Pidge stood from being squished between her brother and Hunk, slowly walking over to Shiro and kneeling down beside him though she was at eye contact when standing with him.   
“I’m gonna head to my lion and do a few more scans,” she said quietly. “You’re still recovering, you should be under a blanket more than me, anyways.”   
Shiro slowly glanced over to her, giving a gentle but worried smile towards the youngest paladin. Hunk and Allura had been the ones to tell him about her saving the crew’s lives by what she had done to the virus. As proud of her as he was, it made him question if, since she had actually thought about having to do something like that in the first place, if he had lost her trust in him. He wouldn’t blame her.   
But since the clone incident, Pidge had been acting different in general. Not just towards Shiro, but towards the team. The girl was definitely on edge, and more distant.   
“You’re right, Pidge, thank you. Try and get some rest.”   
As Pidge walked off towards Green, Lance gave a groan. “Man, why can’t we ever land on a warm planet? One with palm trees, and beaches….Why does it have to be one so cold!” He complained.   
“Unless if you wanted to travel another lightyear, then this one was the only one around,” Keith glared over to his acquaintance slightly. “The lions, and all of us, needed a break….”   
Lance sighed deeply, defeated.   
Standing, Shiro walked towards Matt and Hunk, slowly taking Pidge’s spot with sitting between them, eyes locked on the fire, though fully aware of the small conversations happening in between the team members.   
As it became darker and started blizzarding during the next few hours, the team hadn’t noticed the faded purple lights coming from behind the lions. It was too late that Krolia looked up, eyes widening.   
“We have company,” she muttered, basically introducing the large blast from a Galra ship that narrowly missed them.   
The team shot to their feet, all looking around with wide eyes. Though the blast hadn’t hit any of the crew members, it did hit something.   
Lance looked behind him, his eyes widening when he had seen the blast hit a high perched, snow capped mountain about five hundred feet behind them. He watched with wide eyes as the whole mountain shook, snow immediately tumbling down.   
“AVALANCHE!” He shouted in fear causing everyone’s attention to turn the other way.  
Keith gulped. “Everyone, get in your lions, hurry!”   
Though the command was still somehow heard over the quakes of snow, everyone was frozen where they stood, all internally freaking out between the Galra forces shooting more beams at the snow, and the upcoming avalanche. Soon enough, they couldn’t move, the ambush of snow burying the most of them.   
Trying his hardest to move through the snow, Hunk’s eyes locked onto his helmet, traveling about ten feet away.   
“Pidge,” he yelled, trying to activate the com in order to contact the girl. “Pidge, do you read? We need serious backup!” He yelled. The rest of his teammates were already buried, and, shortly after saying this, Hunk was as well. 

\--

Though she had completed her scans, Pidge hadn’t left her lion. She was sitting on the floor with her notepad and pens, laying on her stomach as she worked on even more designs for Shiro’s new prosthetic. Her feet were folded and propped up behind her, bobbing up and down occasionally.   
The green paladin had been so distracted that she didn’t even notice the upcoming fleet. It wasn’t until Green had shuddered, alerting Pidge, that she even sat up, looking with wide eyes. Standing, Pidge rushed to the control panels, pulling up the intercom screen. “Guys? Is everything okay? Guys?!”   
With her back turned, it gave her a late realization of two galra soldiers coming up behind her. Looking over her shoulder, Pidge’s eyes widened. She immediately dove for her bayard, narrowly avoiding being grabbed by the left soldier.   
Pidge suddenly realized the fear she should of had growing in her. The team wasn’t responding for a reason.   
Shooting her bayard, it wrapped around the closer Galra, pulling him towards Pidge. Jumping, she swiftly kicked him in the head, throwing him back. She glanced as he hit the wall of the lion before looking over at the other, who already had a blaster pointed towards her.   
Something about all of this was worrying. Why would the Galra specifically come and target her? Especially when she was in her lion, all while nine others were down below?   
Lunging, Pidge had gone to zap the other soldier with her bayard, but was thrown aside as her opponent smacked her in the wide of the head with his gun, sending her flying to the side. Hitting the wall, Pidge slumped with a small grunt, already seeing spots. She wasn’t wearing her helmet, making her encounter with the gun even worse. As far as she knew, it was still down with the rest of the team. Looking around, Pidge cursed when realizing she couldn’t find her bayard, and now both soldiers were up on their feet, both approaching her.   
“I’m not sure what High Priestess Haggar wants with such a small little paladin like yourself,” the one who Pidge had gotten with her bayard spoke, glaring.   
Haggar? Where had she heard that name before.   
Pidge looked around desperately, finally finding that her bayard had slid underneath her chair. Now, if only she could get to it.   
“You’re merely a child! Sixteen millenia at the most,” the other growled.   
The green paladin realized she had no other choice other than to make a dive for it. Pidge got to her feet, glaring at the soldiers.   
“Awfully bold of you to assume I’m sixteen,” Pidge snapped, bolting for her bayard, barely able to snatch it before she heard the blast, the sudden pain striking her. It had felt like nothing more than a bee sting at first, but soon the pain became blinding, spreading through her whole entire torso. Clutching her bayard tightly, Pidge grunted in pain, holding her chest, by the crease where her shoulder curved into her neck. Giving a gasp for air, she forced herself to her feet, turning and glaring at her opponents. She was already seeing double as she stumbled back into the control panel.   
Aiming her bayard and shooting, the weapon grappled onto the ceiling behind the two soldiers. But, before it could pull Pidge along with it, the other galra shot his blaster, this time grazing Pidge’s side. This ultimately caused her to crumble with a scream of pain.  
“That’s enough, you’ll kill her,” the other soldier snapped. “Haggar needs her alive.”   
“You got to shoot her! Why wouldn’t I?”   
The bickering was cut off as the lion once again shuddered, being pushed to the side. The snow outside had gathered around, knocking even the beasts off their balance.   
The first soldier grunted. “Grab her, hurry.” 

\--

Giving a gasp for air, Matt grunted as he popped out of the snow. He looked around to find that his crew members were already doing the same, all of them except for the Alteans and Krolia, who had apparent tolerance for any temperature, red in the face from upcoming frostbite.   
“Is everyone okay?” Shiro grunted from beside him, climbing on top of the packed snow, as everyone else did the same.   
Lance was clutching his shoulder in pain, and Hunk’s forehead was bleeding, but other than that, everyone muttered in response.   
“The Glara fleet is gone…” Allura pointed out, brows furrowed.  
Krolia frowned deeply. “Are all the lions here?”   
After doing a quick count, they confirmed that, though buried by snow, the lions were all there.   
“That doesn’t make any sense. Why would they attack us? Aren’t we still technically in an alliance with them? Even though Lotor is….you know….,” Hunk looked in between his team members.   
“Only if his next of kin would agree to carry it out,” Allura spoke, frowning.   
“I don’t get it,” Lance spoke up. “Why would they come, bury us in snow, then leave without taking anything?”   
Shiro frowned. They were forgetting something. Five lions. Four paladins. Five other crew members. Wait….four paladins? He then tensed, feeling as if someone had punched him in the gut.   
“Pidge…”   
“What?” Lance looked over.   
Biting his lip, Shiro reached, picking up his helmet. “Pidge?! Pidge, do you copy? Are you there?” He spoke quickly, worriedly.   
As if on cue of finding out his sister may be in trouble, Matt stood, darting towards the green lion, quickly proceeded by Hunk and Lance, then Shiro, when getting nothing but static.   
With Keith following his tail, the five had froze when reaching the cockpit of the lion.   
The pilot’s chair was knocked over. Pidge’s bayard was sparking weakly beside it, looking like it had been stepped on and broken. It laid in a pool of blood that trailed all the way to the exit. However, there was no sign of the smallest paladin. 

“NO! NO! No….! No, please! Please!”   
Matt’s voice echoed through the cockpit as he looked around desperately, as if thinking they might find Pidge under one of the beds that each lion had. His face had gone grey with fear. His bottom lip quivered at tears immediately poured from his eyes. Blubbering some, his knees gave out as he put his hands over his head, sobbing quietly.   
Lance, Keith, and Hunk were all frozen in fear, unsure how to react. The others were at the ground level of the lion, yelling for someone to tell them what was going on.   
Shiro’s eyes locked onto a small notebook on the ground with blood splattered on it. It sat beside a small pile of crayons and colored pencils. He squeezed his eyes shut before kneeling and picking it up, carefully going through the pages. He was shocked to find all of the different drawings and concepts Pidge had created for a new prosthetic for him. Ignoring his overwhelming urge to begin crying, Shiro held the notebook close, slowly kneeling beside Matt and pulling him into a one-armed embrace.   
“We’ll get her back….I promise.”


	2. 2. Battle for the Title

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Thank you so much for boosting this story so far! I'm so happy all of you are enjoying it! I'll try to update at least twice a week! Please keep leaving me comments! They make my day! I can be contacted personally at snap-crackle-n-stop on tumblr! Enjoy the chapter!

“Pidge, Pidge….it’s time to wake up,” Shiro said earnestly. He had found the green paladin asleep in the hallway, a tangled mess of limbs as she was slumped over her laptop. The screen had since gone dark, letting Shiro estimate how long she had been asleep. Shaking the girl one more time, he gave a sigh upon realizing that she was clocked out. 

Since being brought up into space with the rest of the paladins, Shiro had gotten the chance to interact more with Katie Holt. Matt and Sam had both made her sound just as endearing as she really was. He was able to find out more about her, though he had already felt like he knew everything due to the details her family provided him with. One of the things Shiro had learned was she wasn’t a sleeper. 

With Pidge’s days filled with universe defending things, night time was really the only time that she was able to work on her leads to find her family. 

This wasn’t the first time she had been found asleep in the hallways. More like the fourth….or fifth. That was mentioned. Kneeling, Shiro gently set down Pidge’s laptop, closing it carefully. He set it with the rest of her robotics that she had beside her, moving them all well out of the way of oncoming traffic. After making sure they’d be out of harm’s way, he slipped an arm under the girls’ knees, and another around her shoulders as he carefully lifted her, holding her small form close to his chest. Shiro looked down at her with a soft smile, unable to stop admiring how sweet she actually was. 

Pidge’s head rolled, resting into Shiro’s chest as she mumbled, curling up a little tighter. Blinking slowly, Shiro adjusted his arm so his hand was pressing against the side of her head in attempts to hug her closer. Giving a gentle smile, he brought her back towards her bedroom. 

\--

“She’ll be awake soon, what does Haggar request we do with her?” 

“Bring her to her. She has some certain questions she needs the bright one to answer.” 

Bright one? Was that supposed to be her? 

Groggily opening her eyes, Pidge found her vision blurred. Dark spots danced through her line of sight. The girl gave a small groan, lifting her head slightly to look around. Her whole body hurt. As if she had been hit by a giant semi truck. Though she couldn’t bring herself to move her head well enough to see it, Pidge could feel the warmth of the blood staining the black bodysuit beneath her armor. Her breastplate was missing as well. Heavy handcuffs sealed her hands behind her back, the chain connecting them to the wall keeping her rooted. 

Try as she may, Pidge couldn’t remember anything that had happened. The last thing she recalled was being in her lion working on new prosthetic designs for Shiro. But now she was in a place where she didn’t even recognize, but could only guess it to be a galra prison cell. That thought scared her. If she was there, would that mean that her friends were too?! Or Matt, or Keith’s mom--. 

“She’s barely awake and she’s already panicking,” a deep voice made Pidge’s head shoot up. 

A deep glare formed on her bruised face. “Let me go!” 

Pidge should have known that that demand would get her nowhere. Instead, she received a sharp kick into her side that had been enough to make her keel over. Quickly, both soldiers grabbed Pidge, one on each arm as they slowly brought her down to the witches lair. 

 

She had done her very best to struggle as she was forced down onto a table, then strapped down. Pidge kicked and gasped for air, able to feel so much more blood seeping through the spandex material. “Let me go! I can already tell you that Voltron is on it’s way, and they won’t be happy about this!” 

“Little paladin,” a low, hissed voice came from the center of the room. As Pidge looked around, she started to feel like she had just been summoned through a pentagram. “Do you really think that they would come back all this way to get you back? After so long of traveling in the opposite direction?” 

A hooded figure had stepped into the light. Now that Pidge was staring, she was finally able to put together the name Haggar. The witch. Except, this isn’t what Pidge saw her look like last. Occasionally, it would appear as if the witch’s form was glitching. At one moment, she would be the lavender colored witch, long white hair and pupiless yellow eyes. The next, she would be a tall, caramel skinned woman, with Altean markings on her face and her purple hair worn in a bun. The sight of her made chills run down Pidge’s spine as she gulped. 

“Of course they will--, they’ll know exactly wh-- AHH!” The girl was cut off by a broken scream as she attempted to arch her back in pain. Electrocuting pains raced through her body. Tears leaked from her eyes. 

“You’re the paladin who nearly shut down my whole entire operation, aren’t you?” Haggar reached, grabbing Pidge by the jaw and forcing her to look her in the eye. Though she was beaten, with blood in her thick locks of hair and the gash on her forehead, Haggar recognized the paladin. It was the eyes. 

“Wh-what….?” Pidge panted. “What...what….operation? What are you talking about?” 

“Operation Kuron. Which, thanks to you, now has to be started all over again thanks to that virus you connected to the champion’s arm,” Haggar said coldly. “Without you, I would be on the throne by now, with Lotor still by my side. I wouldn’t have to worry about any of you because you’d all be dead.”

Pidge’s stomach had nearly plummeted when hearing the term ‘dead’. When she thought about it, she hadn’t thought about it. That her virus linked to Shiro’s prosthetic had ultimately saved the whole teams’ life. Of course it had come in passing, but she had yet to swell on it. 

“However, this doesn’t all have to be in vain. Tell me, Katie Holt, are you as good of a champion as your friend?” 

\--

“We’ll have to set up a rescue mission,” Allura stated. “We can contact The Blade, and have them---” 

“No,” Shiro’s voice came out like steel. “There’s not enough time. By now, they’ll already have her back to the Galra base, doing who knows what,” as much as Shiro had wanted to candy coat it, he knew that everyone there knew better than to think that they’d be treating Pidge like a queen. 

“Well, we can’t very well take Voltron, Shiro,” Allura shot back, glaring some. “For all we know, they could just be waiting for us to bring them the lions.” 

“Besides, we don’t have anyone to pilot Green,” Lance pointed out. 

“If the Glara had wanted the lions, they could have very easily taken every single one while we were out,” Keith crossed his arms. “This was solely a capture mission. But Lance is right, we wouldn’t have anyone to pilot the green lion. Plus, taking the whole team is definitely...extreme. We’d have to send two or three people to go retrieve her.” 

Shiro studied the other, unable to help from giving a subtle, gentle smile. Keith really had matured, and was showing the great leadership skills he always knew he had. 

“What are the chances that the green lion would pilot itself? And actually….locate Pidge?” Hunk spoke up. The poor guys eyes were red and puffy, he positioned awkwardly, as if he just couldn’t get comfortable. “The red lion’s done it for Keith, and Black’s done it for both Shiro and Keith.” 

Shiro wanted to believe that….somehow, they would make that happen, but knew that their best bet for anyone piloting the green lion, besides Pidge, would be Matt. His gaze drifted over to the boy, who was seated alone from everybody else, staring at the flames they still had going. He had dejected anyone that came near him. Shiro didn’t blame him. If he could, he’d be isolating himself, too, maybe would even go over the drawings for a prosthetic that Pidge had done for him. 

“Either way, I’m going with to get my little sister back,” Matt said decidingly, making Shiro raise an eyebrow with impression. “I know what it’s like to be prisoner on those ships. Shiro and I both do. And I’ll be damned if I’ll let Pidge go through that.” 

“I’ll go too,” Shiro nodded. “If there’s anyone who may know his way around those ships, it would be me.” 

He suddenly felt all eyes turn to him and frowned deeply, mentally cursing. He could tell what they were all thinking. ‘Gee, Shiro! We’ve already been done with the clone incident for three weeks! I think we all totally trust you to lead two of our team members onto an enemy ship!’ Shiro sighed, glancing to Keith, dejected. 

“Shiro’s right, like usual,” Keith sent him a reassuring nod. “He and Matt are two of our best candidates to go rescue Pidge. I’ll go with them.”

“Keith, no,” Shiro shook his head. “This is your team now, and you need to be here to lead it if something were to happen.” 

There was a few beats of silence before Hunk gave a low sigh. “I’ll go. Pidge is my….best friend. And I don’t know what I’d do if I lost her. We’ll take my lion.” 

Everyone tore their gaze away from Shiro and over to Hunk. Shiro gave a small smile as Matt put his hand on his shoulder. 

“So, it’s settled,” Matt nodded. 

Shiro looked to him and Hunk. “We leave in an hour.”


	3. 3. He's no stranger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a bit of a long one, so get comfortable! Get ready to aww, panic, and cry. Next chapter will be increasingly angsty!

The weekend after hearing about the Kerberos mission, the Holt family had brought Shiro over for dinner. Colleen Holt had thoroughly insisted that she meet the man that her husband and son would be spending nearly a year with. Katie, though she thought her mom may be overreacting, had gone with it, actually having been excited to meet Takashi Shirogane. The Takashi Shirogane. Wow…

The name seemed to be a household name in the Holt house. He was a legend. The way he inspired Matt and Katie. How kind he had been. The fact that, though he was a senior officer and had no bother to need to talk to Matt, and having been a year above him in classes, he had been the one to show him around, make sure he was doing okay, even helped him with his homework. Shiro was a top student in his class. The best pilot to be known. Matt had spread the word of him adopting a delinquent orphan who was a student in the grade below Matt. Someone named Keith. 

He really was a hero. And everyone agreed. 

Katie smoothed her dress, pacing slightly, jumping when Matt walked into the foyer of the home. “Geeze, Pidge! You look more nervous than I feel. Come on, it’s just Shiro!” 

“I’ve told you not to call me that, and it may be just Shiro to you, but it’s Shiro Shiro to me. Shiro my...my hero! Role model! The top student in his class! He made junior officer by the time he was 14! Raised from nothing, on his own, starting out as nothing more than a delinquent orphan...and now look at him,” Katie sighed wistfully. “An exploration pilot!” She stated, as if Matt may have forgotten. 

Matt gave a laugh, ruffling his sister’s hair, though didn’t succeed much seeing as her hair was in a braid. “Just remember, he’s just human. Like you and I. He’s a lot more ‘chill’ than you’d think. He’s actually a bit of a goofball. I think you two would get along.” 

“Okay, wow. Rude,” Katie laughed, but jumped when there was a quiet knock on the door. She looked to her brother as if having forgot what she was supposed to do when someone was at the door. 

“Relax, Pidge…” Matt walked past her, opening the door. 

Katie turned slowly, her eyes immediately widening some at sight of Shiro. She paused, unable to think or do anything. 

In his hands, Shiro carried a bouquet of flowers, and a bottle of A&W cream soda. He shook Matt’s hand before looking over to Katie, immediately breathtaken. Of course he had seen pictures of his friends younger sister in his dorm, and thought she was cute. But now, she was gorgeous. She wore a knee length light blue dress, and her strawberry blonde hair over her shoulder in a braid. He quickly composed himself. 

“Katie, ah, this is for you,” he passed her the bottle of cream soda, making her smile brightly. “Matt mentioned this was your favorite. I hope I got the right brand.” 

Katie blinked slowly, reaching for the drink and looking it over, her face lighting up quickly. “It’s even in the glass bottle!” She spoke excitedly, her face lighting up. Her gaze went to the other, slowly setting the bottle down and sticking a hand out. “It’s a real honor to meet you. You’re really highly spoken of around here.” 

“Yeah,” Matt spoke up, rolling his eyes. “By you.” 

Katie rolled her eyes, smiling some as she heard Shiro chuckle. He slowly shook her hand, taking it and kissing the back of it, making her blush even deeper. She blinked, smiling sheepishly. “Let me show you the living room,” she smiled. “Mom’s extremely excited to meet you.” 

 

The next few months, the team was prepared for the entire trip. Katie and Shiro had begun to spend a lot more time together when possible. Shiro helped her begin to study for entrance exams for the Galaxy Garrison. Katie had been a great study partner, and something that would be easy to call prodgedic. She was amazing with technology, and a real genius when it came to...well, anything. More specifically science and math.

But as the mission drew closer, Shiro had to grow more distant, and Katie had to accept that. She knew that being with him as much as she already had been should have been seen as a blessing. That she shouldn’t be greedy. But she couldn’t help it. She loved spending every moment with him. It distracted her from the bullying at school. From the worrying over the mission. It felt like he was whisking her away from the way too fast world. She has partially hoped that he felt the same…. 

The night before everyone left, Shiro had shown up at the Holt household. Luckily, it was Katie who answered the door. Her hair was pulled up in a high ponytail, worn on the side of her head, wearing a green t-shirt and jeans. 

“Shiro, hi. Uh, Matt’s over saying goodbye to his friends, and Mom and Dad went out to d-...” 

“I’m, actually not here to see them, Katie. I came to see you,” Shiro spoke, almost sheepishly. “Come on, my bike is outside.” 

Katie blinked hesitantly before nodding, and following him out. 

Shiro had helped her onto his bike. The motorcycle was large and red. Upon helping her on, Shiro put his helmet on her head with a gentle smile before climbing on. “You might want to put your arms, uh...around...yeah…” He spoke sheepishly. 

Hesitating, she obliged, wrapping her arms around him, being too short to look over his shoulder so instead resting her chin against his back. Shiro pressed one hand on where hers were laced together on his abdomen before steering off. It was only about a fifteen minute drive, they came up across an park with a small party center in the middle. There were benches and fountains around, but not necessarily any playground equipment. 

With the setting sun as the background, Shiro helped Katie hop off the motorcycle, watching her take off the helmet and setting it on the seat. 

“Come on, I wanna show you this,” Shiro gave a gentle smile, bringing her to the party center and climbing up the fire escape, occasionally stopping to make sure she was following. Quickly, they reached the flat rooftop. Shiro pulled Katie up the rest of the way, leading her over across the railing, though being extremely careful as they knelt to sit on the shillings. Carefully resting a hand on hers, just in case, Shiro pointed up at the sky. “You see that star? The bigger one….” 

“That one isn’t flickering,” Katie followed his finger, looking over to him. “So it’s not a star. It’s a planet, or moon, right?” 

“Look at you! Remembering things from your study book,” Shiro laughed slightly, looking to her in admiration. 

“Actually, I’ve known that forever. What is it, then? If it’s not a star?” 

“That’s Kerberos. You can only see it some nights. Maybe once a month at the most, right on the halfway mark between full moons. But it’s just so you know… No matter what, your family...and I… are up there. And you’ll always be able to find us. Even though some days, it’ll be a lot harder, and it’ll take longer…” 

“Totally,” Katie nodded, staring at her. 

Shiro nodded reassuringly. “You’ll be able to find us.” 

\--

The halls were wide. Purple lights worked their hardest to illuminate the prisoners way. Pidge was one of them. Though having a hard time walking along on her own, she was practically shoved along with the others. As they came closer to the arena, the sound of the stomping feet and cheering was loud enough to make Pidge become lightheaded. As the guards stopped them, they gave them permission to sit. Pidge practically collapsed, shaking. Stars spread through her vision. Her whole form shook uncontrollably. She barely felt the prisoner behind her tap her shoulder. 

Pidge turned her head, looking to the two prisoners staring at her. They were definitely humanoid, though not quite earthlings. Like how the Alteans were, with subtle markings to make them seem different. The one closer to Pidge was female, with shoulder length reddish blonde hair and blue eyes, light markings across her nose. The one behind her was slightly stockier with dark brown hair and similar color of eyes. They had extremely similar markings that started from their hairlines, swirling down the sides of their faces and across their cheeks. The only differences was that the girl’s were yellow, and the boy’s were purple. The similar markings covered their hands so Pidge could only assume they covered their whole body. 

“Is it true that you’re the green paladin?” The girl asked quietly, her eyes flickering across Pidge’s face. 

“I...yeah, I am. How did you….?” 

“We heard the witch talking. Also the guards,” the boy spoke up, staring at Pidge. Their markings glowed in the dark, being the only other thing to contrast the purple lighting. “Can we ask how…” 

“If I could remember, yes. How...how do these usually work?” Pidge muttered, staring at the two. 

“Basically?” The girl questioned, tilting her head. “You fight until you can’t, anymore. Or, hopefully until your opponent falls before you, if you’re lucky. Ms. Haggar had to of known what a good fighter you are. She didn’t even put you through rankings…” 

“Well, she did seem pretty hell-bent on killing me,” Pidge muttered to them. “How...how long have you two been here?” The paladin asked. Maybe they knew her brother and Shiro….right? 

“About…” The girl paused, looking to the boy for assistance. It was hard to tell day from night when there wasn’t any windows. The best they could do is make an estimate. “Two, or three years? We were captured when making a peace mission to a nearby planet. They nearly killed us both. Now, we’re light years away from our planet, Uskagantu. Our families probably have assumed the worst by now. Not...not that we blame them. At this point, we’ve accepted our fate.” 

“Have we?” The boy muttered, causing her to glance over with a sigh. 

Pidge blinked slowly, sticking out a hand. “I’m Pidge Gunderson.” 

The girl and boy exchanged glances before shrugging, staring at the outreached hand in confusion. “I’m Dax,” the boy nodded. “And this is my friend, Anwen. We’re Uskagantans.” 

“It’s nice to meet you…” Pidge muttered. “Did...did you guys know my brother? And my friend? Matt Holt and Takashi Shirogane?” 

Anwen blinked some before nodding, a small, yet sad smile on her face. “Yeah, we both did. Dax had fought against The Champion before and barely made it out alive. It took most of my healing in order to save him. But Shiro….he had been so nice. He came and apologized continually. I healed his wounds as he explained that since Dax had been defeated, he would be bumped down in the ranks…” 

“He had definitely felt bad about having to hurt anyone,” Dax nodded, though momentarily looked to Anwen when noticing how wistful she sounded over Shiro, raising a brow. 

“He’s a paladin now, too,” Pidge spoke quietly. “He piloted Black for a long time, and now accepts it as an on again-off again sort of thing. I...I have to get back to him, to my team…” She mumbled. 

The Uskaganatans exchanged looks, worried looks. “The best way for that to happen is….is pleasing the witch, Pidge Gunderson,” Dax muttered. 

“And how will I do that?” Pidge lowered her voice, leaning forward and wincing deeply. 

Dax looked up to him, brows furrowing. “By becoming the new Champion.” 

\--

“So, Shiro. No offense but, like...you only have one arm now,” Hunk spoke up. The three boys had been traveling for maybe 12 hours at full speed. Shiro slowly looked over, raising a brow towards Hunk’s statement. 

“What a keen observation, Hunk.” 

“No, like. ...How will you fight with only one arm? I can barely do it with two.” 

Shiro hesitated, staring a the boy and giving a sigh. “Back in the arena, when Haggar was still making that prosthetic, I had quite a few fights with only one hand. And, obviously, I still won. So, I’m hoping that that sort of skill can pan out, or we’ll get lucky.” 

“Either way,” Matt spoke up, staring at the wall. “Something tells me that Pidge is doing a lot of her own fighting… And she’s gonna need a lot of hope, too….” 

\--

“The contestants will now choose their weapons!” The voice booming through the loudspeakers caught Pidge off guard. She stood at the table of countless weapons, some Pidge didn’t even know how to work. She slowly glanced over her shoulder to eye her opponent. It was a definitely large alien creature with lumps across his body and one eye. He stood at about ten feet tall, and eight feet wide. 

She felt panic growing in her throat, but forced herself to swallow it back. Pidge was small. Agile. Quick. The galra clearly didn’t take that into consideration when picking out battles. Looking at the table, she lifted a whip, frowning deeply before realizing that this would be her best bet. 

“Now! Let the battle begin!”


	4. 4. what you don't know

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge faces her first fight in the arena.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys! I just wanted to thank you all for all of the amazing support you all have given me so far! You're comments and kudos inspire me more than you'll ever know! A couple of things before the this chapter! Pidge is estimated to be about 16 in this fic, though I'll doubt the age gets brought up. It doesn't do much to eliminate the age difference, but, it's a little something, I guess. The other thing is you guys can now send fan art in to me over Tumblr for this fic! You can tag it with #reprograming computer vld, and/or tag me with @snap-crackle-n-stop! I look forward to seeing how much this fic inspires you! Now, on with the chapter!

Chapter Four

His scar burned. All of his scars burned. He had...to keep….going. He didn’t have a choice! The roars of the crowds had become like a familiar song from childhood. The vibrations gave off by the stomping of feet and growling, once making him dizzy, now made him feel like he had done something right. 

\--

The green paladin had definitely been caught off guard at the sudden confirmation for the battle to begin. This gave her large opponent a two second head start. Pidge, though they still had a whole arena between them, could already feel the beast breathing down her neck. Tightening her grip on her quickly chosen weapon, she turned quickly, lashing the whip as fast, and hard as she could. 

The change in weight of weapons definitely played in Pidge’s disadvantage. The whip was heavier, longer, and had less equally distributed weight than her bayard. 

However, the tip of the whip seemed to nick her opponent’s side, barely enough to draw blood. A harmony of cheers and boos erupted from the crowd. 

“GLOTEK, DEFEATER OF MANY, KILLER OF HUNDREDS FACES THE FORMER GREEN PALADIN OF VOLTRON!” The speakers blared. 

Former?   
Would that mean that the team had already replaced her? Pidge felt nauseous at the thought. Maybe Matt had stepped in. Or maybe Keith was piloting Green now, and Shiro was back in Black… 

Pidge hesitated, lashing the whip once more, visibly missing. Almost. Pidge watched the tip of the whip wrap around the leg of one of the far weapon tables.With all her might, she yanked the whip handle back, jutting herself in the gut but watching as the table came from behind Glotek, knocking him backwards. 

There were more cheers from the crowds. Thousands of people in the stands. No, galra. All bloodthirsty with no real empathy for whoever won or loss. Pidge froze. She needed time to think. She wouldn’t have long before the beast was back on his feet. Looking around, she inhaled slightly, sprinting and diving behind one of the extremely large pillars. 

Pressing her back against the cold metal, Pidge found herself close to hyperventilating. She squeezed her eyes shut momentarily, only to be….bombarded with a series of visions that weren’t her own by any means. 

Shiro. Shiro was wearing the same prisoner’s uniform that he wore when the team had first rescued him. There was a large gash across the bridge of his nose, bleeding openly. Towards the front of his hairline, his hair was white at the roots. He held a broadsword and stared ahead with wide, fearful eyes. Ahead of him was his opponent. A twelve foot, armored, humanoid lizard creature. There would be no way he could run out of the way. This was only his third fight in the arena. No...he had to make it out.   
His gaze was caught by the tip of the lizard’s tail. Well. the tail in general. Overall, it appeared to be he only place on the lizard within reach that wasn’t covered by armor. Shiro ran forward, sliding between the beast’s legs and slicing the underside of the tail, then bringing the sword through the tail, slicing it off clean. There were louder boos. That didn’t stop Shiro.   
The lizard, having been seen as losing an extra limb, fell over. Shiro didn’t waste any time raising his sword and running over, bringing it down as quick as he could over the lizard’s neck. 

The visions faded. Pidge fell forward, gasping for the air that she hadn’t realized she was denying herself. How…? Her gaze pulled forward to see Anwen and Dax both staring at her with wide eyes. Anwen’s marks were glowing brightly. Much brighter than they had before. 

The ground beneath her feet as Pidge realized what she had to do. She slid from the pillar, turning slightly as the beast approached her. Glotek’s head was bleeding, but he otherwise seemed unscathed. 

Running forward as fast as she could, she went to lash the whip around Glotek’s ankle, but was heavily caught by surprise as Glotek kicked her in the torso, literally sending her flying through the air as she crashed into another pillar, trying to ignore the sickening crack that came from her ribs. Brought forward with heavy nausea and blinding pain, Pidge crumbled onto the ground. Then, suddenly, everything went black. 

 

Pidge reawoke only milliseconds later, a new plan already forming. As she sat up, she could already sense the shattered rib bones as she reached for her whip, this time taking a different approach. Holding her ribs, she went to the pillar, wrapping the whip around it before jumping, her feet braced against the pillar. She adjusted the whip up quickly, using it as a makeshift climbing device. 

Glotek was thrown off guard with confusion as to what she was doing. Pidge didn’t waste any time seeing as she also didn’t know what she was doing. As the monster neared, within only a few feet, Pidge inhaled. 

Propelling herself off the side of the pillar, Pidge brought the whip with her, wrapping it around Glotek’s throat. She no longer heard the cheers or boos of the crowd. The pains throughout her body were blinding. She was certain that her head was bleeding. 

Pidge met the sides of the whip she was holding, crossing her hands. She refused to look down at her work as she felt a sudden jerk, and her hands sensed the feeling of a thick, gooey substance flood over then. 

Glotek’s decapitated form fell forward, Pidge having the sense to duck and roll as it his the ground. 

The boo’s of the crowd were quickly diminished, all drowned out or replaced by ear bursting cheers. Pidge stood slowly, only to feel her arm grabbed and lifted high above her head. Her head felt like it was filling with water. She saw double of everything. Her vision then began to drift in and out, between light and dark. Pidge barely caught the words ‘our new, current champion’ before vomiting. 

\--

“Shiro, can I talk to you for a sec?” Pidge’s small voice had caused the black paladin to turn around. The two were out well past everyone else going to bed. It was a whole two days since Shiro had been brought back, and he wasn’t prepared to bring up the fact that everyone seemed wary towards him. Pidge especially. 

“Of course, Pidge. What’s going on?” Shiro had been seated in front of a claw on the black lion, shivering some. It was cold. But he had a blanket around his shoulders, at least. He noted Pidge in her the shirt she usually wore under her sweatshirt - a thin t-shirt with the NASA symbol on it - and her shorts. He quickly and immediately gestured her over. Without thinking, he wrapped a tight arm around her waist to pull her under the blanket as well. He sighed contently throughout his nose as she didn’t pull away, but instead snuggled into the crook of where his arm had been as they slowly sat. 

Though she had been the one to request conversation, Pidge was silent for a good three minutes. For a moment, Shiro had thought her to fall asleep and was about to panic over thinking about how to get her to her lion when he only had one arm. 

“We told you about the whole virus over the ship thing,” she muttered quietly at last. Shiro, having found himself resting his head on top of hers, slowly sat up just some, looking to her, nodding, yet staying silent. “And...and how I was able to save everyone by...by the….” 

“By the virus you created over the prosthetic, yes. What about it?” Shiro’s tone stayed gentle as he brought her a little closer, sensing that she was about to start getting emotional. He didn’t want to talk about this, by any means. It would just...remind him of how he had….technically failed. He had failed his own team. And technically, mostly thanks to Keith, and Allura...and Pidge, they were all brought to the fact that they were all nearly goners. Shiro knew that the team hadn’t given Pidge the recognition that she deserved when saving everyone by using the virus. Part of him was deeply angered by it. 

“I… I had told myself that I would never need it, and almost didn’t even create the virus. But,” Pidge’s quick rambling was cut off by her pausing and taking a deep breath. 

“Pidge…” Shiro spoke slowly. “What you did….it saved everyone. Don’t tell me you’re having second thoughts about what you did.” 

“No, it’s not...it’s not second thoughts. I just… I wanted you to know that… that even though I had to place the virus. That I did place the virus, it doesn’t change-- it hasn’t changed that I still...that I still…”

“That you still, what…?” 

“That I trust you. Because I do. Trust you, I mean… And I didn’t want you to think otherwise all because of the virus. And I didn’t want you to be mad that I...that I placed…” 

“Katie,” Shiro hardened his tone just slightly. “You did what you knew needed to be done. You had known that something was up from the beginning. I know. I watched you. I’m the very complete opposite of mad at you. And I wouldn’t have been surprised if you didn’t trust me anymore. Some of our teammates don’t at the moment and I don’t blame them, either. But I am by no means mad at you...I swear. If anything… I’m extremely proud of you.” 

Pidge slowly looked up as he spoke, her brows furrowed as she stared at him, tears in her eyes. Shiro was proud of her…. Shiro….was proud of her. She slowly blinked before quickly wrapping her arms around him. Tightly. Shiro, though now flustered, slowly wrapped his arm around her, kissing the top of her head without really thinking. He sighed shakily, bringing her as close as he could.

“Pidge?”

“Yeah…?” 

“Your lion has heating, right?” 

“Yeah…” 

“Good, because you’re freezing. And I think Keith locked down Black for tonight.” 

\-- 

“Shiro...SHIRO!”

The paladin jolted awake, holding his chest as he breathed heavily, looking around to see Matt staring at him with wide eyes. Shiro hadn’t even remembered falling asleep. Yet, sure enough, there he was, in the co-pilot’s chair, a blanket thrown over him. 

“You were talking in your sleep,” Shiro had found that it was Matt’s voice speaking to him, though he couldn’t see anything in the almost pitch dark. Hunk’s heavy snores came from the pilot’s chair. “Is everything okay? You sounded scared…” 

“Hm? Yes, everything’s...fine. Just a nightmare, I guess. Where are we? How long was I out?” 

“The lion needed a serious recharge, and so did Hunk. It’s been four days of flying non-stop. I’m surprised any of us have lasted this long. Hunk parked on a planet that we deemed safe. You passed out a little after that last asteroid belt, when Hunk was singing ‘Iz.’ He has a pretty calming voice. He’s a great singer.” 

“And what about you?” 

“I wouldn’t say that the Holt’s are known for our musical talent, but--” 

“No, not…” Shiro paused, rubbing his eyes some. “Have you slept? And is there any word from anyone?” 

“...double negative. Our last contact was with Keith and Lance when they were rerouting coordinates.” 

Shiro looked towards the direction of where he heard Matt’s voice coming from. “You haven’t slept? Matt…” 

“Don’t worry about me. I wouldn’t be able to rest if I tried.” 

“I doubt that.” 

“Okay, let me rephrase that. Every time I close my eyes all I can see is by baby sister getting multated and persecuted the same way we did. The way that I swore to myself I would never let her witness,” Matt’s voice had taken a turn for the worse. “And for all I know, those visions could be one hundred percent accurate. Her in the arena, her being whipped and beaten and experimented on. How do we know that that’s not what’s actually happening?” 

Shiro felt his gut drop. Somehow, he had been able to suppress the thought of what they thought could be happening to Pidge. It would do no use of thinking about. If anything, it would stress them out more. “We don’t, Matt. And we won’t. Not until we find her. But until then, wearing ourselves thin won’t do any good. Something tells me we’re gonna need to be in our best conditions when we find her. And because of that, I also can’t assure that that doesn’t mean those things are happening,” Shiro paused, rubbing his temples. Now that Matt had brought it up, Shiro was faced with the same thoughts and visions. He quickly tried to steady himself. 

“When we get her back, she’s going to be beaten beyond our own repair. And we won’t have a pod to heal her, Shiro. And for all we know, she could be standing on death’s doorstep right now. Hell, she might already be--” 

“Enough, okay?” Shiro inhaled some. “We’re going to get her back. No matter the risks. She’ll be alive. And if she’s injured, we’ll burn that bridge when we get to it. Okay? We both know Katie wouldn’t want us to be killing ourselves over this. So, as hard as it is, we’re gonna try not to. Now, please….try and rest up.”


	5. 5. come back to me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get a lot more violent in the arena

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those who it might fly by for, there is a time skip in between the last chapter and this one, only about four or five days.

“Paladins,” Kolivan’s deep voice came just in time for the hologram call to pop up. He looked tired. Stressed. The hologram over the lion’s dashboard came up as a split screen, the other screen showing Allura, Lance, and Keith, all looking as tired, yet somewhat shocked, as Shiro currently felt. “We have word from inside the Galra headquarters about your missing teammate.” 

“Pidge?” Lance questioned, tilting his head some, as if they had a few other missing friends it may have been. 

Kolivan went silent, staring at the paladin as if he was thinking of ways to stomp on him. “Yes.”

“What did they say, Kolivan?” Shiro spoke up, folding his arm across his chest. 

“‘Pidge’ has been fighting in the arena for about a week now,” Kolivan spoke weakly. Shiro heard Matt give a wheeze, resembling the punch in the gut Shiro felt, yet in sound. “We estimate that she’s on her twentieth battle already. She must be providing some sort of show for the empire. We aren’t sure how much longer she may last, though.” 

The holographic screen split into thirds as a blurry photo was taken. Shiro felt the overwhelming urge to vomit. Hunk did vomit. A thump came behind Shiro that told him Matt had just more than likely fainted. 

The photo showed Pidge in prisoner attire. Her cheek had a deep graze across it, stretching from her temple, down to the corner of her mouth. Her lips were stained with blood. A Galra was holding her arm far above her head in a form of showing victory. She held weakly onto a large axe that had to be almost as big as her. A deep gash spread across her ribcage, exposing two or three bones, her thigh was cut open in three different places and looked almost as if it was steaming. 

Shiro reached forward, cautiously zooming in to the girl’s face. Her stare was blank and helpless. Dark shadows surrounded her eyes. There was so much blood and bruising. Shiro fought back any sudden thoughts or memories he had the best he could. 

“Have you heard anything else?” Shiro demanded lowly. “Anything at all?” 

“There’s been rumors over the witch keeping a close eye on her, she’s very interested in her,” Kolivan responded. “I wouldn’t be surprised if she decided to suddenly target your friend as her new--” 

“Don’t say it,” Shiro muttered, glaring at the ground. He inhaled some and sighed. “Hunk, send him our coordinates. Figure out how much longer we have until we reach her. Allura, see if Coran and Romelle can figure out a quicker path. If there’s any jumps or anything at all. We’re getting desperate. Keith, Lance, you two need to work together to try and communicate with Pidge’s lion. See if there’s anything it might do to help us out.”

“And what about you?” Keith demanded just slightly. He was stressed, and scared. Shiro understood that. 

Shiro inhaled slightly. “I think it’s high time I visit my own head.” 

\--

“She’s going a lot further than we planned, Haggar,” a druid spoke, staring across the way to the witch. She stood at a portal, overlooking the cell that the arena’s reigning champion was staying in. They had had her captured for nine quintents. The small paladin was holding up a lot more than any of them expected. Including the witch. 

However, Haggar barely seemed troubled by this. Instead, a terrifying grin came across her mouth, being the only thing showing under her hood. “We’ll see if she survives this next…challenge. It’s high time we start to break her, more than physically. Her loyalty runs deep, as does her selflessness. So I doubt that after this, we’ll have to worry about her.” 

“And if she does survive? And isn’t broken into a mindscape of nothingness, ma’am?” 

Haggar actually laughed. “We’ll do the same thing as we did with my last champion.” 

\--

“Katie, come on! The ship is about to crash!” Matt shouted, jerking his sister away from the controls. He slammed his fingers into the buttons, pulling up on the steering wheel. 

“DADDY! MATT ISN’T LETTING ME PLAY!”

“Snitch.” 

Sam Holt slowly walked into the playroom, raising a brow at the large refrigerator box in it. The box had windows cut out in it, and the flaps had been converted into wings. Inside sat his two precious children. Matthew, only eight, and Katie, just turning three. 

“Now, kids. You and I both know that arguing is not something to do when piloting a ship. You have to work as a team. Right?” Sam gave a small chuckle, reaching in the box and picking Katie up, balancing her on his hip as he sat on the couch. Matt slowly slipped out as well, going to his side. 

Katie, though pouting, rested against her dad. He still had on his grey uniform. The two gold stripes on each of his shoulders. Katie had asked what they were there, and Daddy had told her they were only for decoration, though he got so excited when he had been given another set of stripes that Katie knew they were special.

“Us at the Garrison never argue with our crew members. You want to be nice to them, because you’ll never know when you need them,” Sam lectured. “And the same goes for family too, you two.” 

Reaching out, Sam pulled Matt over into a hug, then ruffling his hair making him give a grunt, then a laugh.   
“When we g’wow up, we can be pil’ets too, w’ight?” Katie questioned, messing with one of the button’s on her father’s uniform. 

Sam blinked, then smiled warmly, running a hand through his greying, fiery red hair. Katie had been born with the same shade, and in the colder months it would come close to it, but Colleen had already minded that it would more than likely result to strawberry blonde. 

“Of course you can! And you will be!” Sam stated proudly, tickling Katie’s tummy. “You two will be the BEST pilots the universe has ever seen!” 

Lifting his daughter up as she giggled, Sam held her under his arms, then allowed Matt up on his shoulders as he spun them around in ‘airplane mode.’ The sound of his children’s laughter was enough to make him feel like the happiest man in the world. And he was sure that he was. When becoming dizzy, Sam slowly set both children down, kneeling to their eye level and trying to get the room to stop spinning. 

“The two of you will amount to be very great, heroic people, no matter what you do. You’ll take this whole universe by storm. And your mom and I will be watching you every step of the way,” Sam smiled gently. His two geniuses. Child prodigies. He lifted Katie up, placing her into the refrigerator box...er, spaceship, then helping Matt in as well. “Go,” he smiled, ruffling their hair. “Be great.” 

\-- 

“Dax, you and I both know that there IS a way to get her out of here.” 

“Anwen, we’ve been over this. That effort could kill you.” 

“Yet save her, someone the universe needs!” 

Dax slowly looked over to his longtime companion, brows furrowed. Over the time, Dax and Anwen had been watching Pidge closely to see everything she’s done, what she’s all accomplished. Whether the paladin realized it or not, they both had done everything they could to get her through the arena alive. Anwen had mainly focused on sending her her own memories of watching Shiro in order to help Pidge figure out the same way he had won against similar beasts. They clearly terrified her, seeing her friend in such a state, but they knew it was the main thing that was working. Other times, Dax and Anwen would work to heal the girl the best they could, without making it too noticeable. They were caught the first two times they did it due to healing her completely. Dax and Anwen both still had gashes and whip markings along their backsides from punishment. 

“Anwen, we’ve been locked here for nearly two thousand years…together. At this point, I’d like to think that we see each other as our own universes. And your universe? It still needs you.”   
Anwen’s markings begun to glow with blush, but she looked aside. “When push comes to shove, there are universes that are a lot bigger than just the two of us, Dax,” she spoke quietly. “And we can’t be selfish towards them. It’s been two thousand years, and I’m ready to leave in one way or another.” 

\--

Something was wrong. Different. The guards herding her out of her cell weren’t as forceful as usual, though maybe she was finally used to it. The arena was a lot quieter. But maybe she had hit her head so many times that her hearing was starting to go out. 

As she was forced through the bars and into the open arena, Pidge grunted as she stumbled forward, clutching her torso. Murmurs flooded the crowd. Then suddenly, slow clapping from one Galra, who stood from his seat. Then another. Then five more. Then hundreds more. Pidge looked around in some sort of awe as she saw every Galra visible rise to their feet, cheering loudly. It made Pidge nauseous just as a reminder that she was nothing more than entertainment for them. 

But still, something was off. Pidge, knowing the routine, walked towards the weapon table, finding it completely empty except for one thing. A bayard. 

Minding, it wasn’t exactly like a paladin’s bayard, but it was definitely almost identical to Pidge’s except for the fact that it looked like it might be under a reverse blacklight. Where it would be white, it was black. With purple decal. It looked like it had flopped to the opposite side of the color wheel. 

Panic built into Pidge’s throat. What would this mean? What should she be fighting now? The fact that they had given her a bayard...was this her award? Or maybe some sort of trick? Maybe to make things more interesting? 

Pidge held the bayard, tensing as the crowd’s cheers got louder. She turned from the table, freezing when she noticed one….two...three...four figures in the other entrances, all shadows and only silhouettes. Until they stepped into the light. Pidge nearly sobbed with relief. Keith! Lance! Hunk! Even Shiro! They had come to get her! Any thoughts about the fact that something was definitely going on disappeared from her mind as she set the bayard down, immediately sprinting towards Shiro at full speed. 

‘Shiro’ glared towards her, easily flipping her over his shoulder with no warning when she approached him. Pidge grunted, rolling some, shaking like crazy as she slowly looked up at Shiro, horror in her eyes. Somehow it still wasn’t processing how weird this was. Pidge didn’t even take into account that Shiro had two arms right now. Keith was missing his mark across his cheek. 

“...Shiro…?” Pidge spoke weakly, tears rushing down her face. What was wrong? What had she done? He was mad at her---! 

“You really think we came to save you?” Shiro actually laughed towards her. “Little old you? Pidge, you’re not as big of an asset to the team as you think you are. So, you’re a scientist. Whoop-de-doo,” he rolled his eyes, immediately kicking her in her already exposed ribs, hard enough to throw her back. “You’re useless to the team, Katie. You should have left in the first place. Right when you wanted to.” 

Pidge felt horror stricken, she couldn’t bring herself to sit up. She was seeing spots and stars. But Shiro, nor the others were done yet. 

“You’re the worst pilot out of all of us,” Lance spoke up, a hard scowl on his face. “You’ve been nothing but some sort of pest since the Garrison. You’re the worst fighter, and paladin throughout all of us.” 

“You’re selfish. Only loyal to yourself. You could never get your trust exercises right, and always messed it up for the rest of us,” Keith had spoken up, decking the girl as hard as he could, not even flinching with the crack that came from her neck from her head moving so fast with so much force. “So you’re good with computers. So are Hunk and Coran. So is your brother. You could so easily be replaced!” 

“No...no, guys. This….this isn’t you…” Pidge shook her head, looking around frantically. The bayard. Where was it? She suddenly thought back to having dropped it when seeing her teammates. Struggling, she forced herself to stand, only to be thrown back by Hunk. 

“Are you about to run?” Hunk spat. Pidge felt her stomach coil. “That’s all you ever do, isn’t it? It’s the only thing you’re good at? You ran from home when your family disappeared. You ran from your mom, who needed you more than ever. You ran from the Garrison. You even tried to run from your own team. You run from your own realities and your subconscious doubt. Go ahead, run,” Hunk snapped coldy. “Leave.” 

No. This wasn’t them. It...it couldn’t be them.

Pidge scooted back, briefly closing her eyes in attempts to think. She briefly thought back to a mission a while back when Coran had gotten captured. ...had it been Coran? She faced a statue of some kind, hadn’t she? Her thoughts and brain were all clouded. She couldn’t remember… She ended up fighting her friends...right? How had she won…? 

The fact that she couldn’t remember scared her even worse than anything else going on. How was she going to get to the bayard? She opened her eyes, seeing the - probably - only chance she had of getting out of the cornered position. Between Hunk and Lance. If she could shove through. No, she couldn’t move fast enough. Not when injured and not when they would be able to react quicker than she could. She needed...a distraction. 

“...if I’m such a burden to the team, then what was the point of keeping me around?” Pidge muttered weakly, shakily scooting her back upwards against the wall. She held her once again gushing side. The blood loss was making her dizzy. She couldn’t hold herself up without support. “Why didn’t you get rid of me the second you all came to this conclusion?” A small wheeze passed her lips. She squeezed her eyes shut. 

“If you’re going to end me, then do it,” the words quickly passed her lips. She made no attempt to stop them. Pidge slowly opened her eyes, finding that Lance had already drawn his bayard, the red Altean broadsword flashing. He took a step forward, raising it high above his head and preparing to bring it down. Pidge was frozen at first. In fear. She completely zoned out on what she was doing. She jumped forward just in time for his sword to slash into her hip, nearly sticking with how deep it went. Pidge couldn’t help it, she screamed, but quickly kicked Lance back, picking up his sword and holding it out in attempts to protect herself as she backed towards the fifth bayard.

The four followed quickly, though Pidge noted that they seemed to refuse to leave a five foot radius of one another. Hesitating, Pidge chucked the sword as hard as she could, looking away as it left her hand, then sobbing as she heard Keith scream in pain. No. That isn’t Keith. Pidge sprinted towards the last bayard, turning and glaring. The sword had by pure luck launched itself into Keith’s chest. Pidge watched in horror as he dissolved into black smoke. 

She pointed the bayard towards Lance, who was coming up fast, now without his sword or any weapon. Pidge pointed the bayard at his feet, watching it quickly wrap around his ankles. She pulled the bayard tightly, watching as he hit the ground with a loud crash. She sent heave electric waves through the bayard, sobbing as she watched Lance’s body too fade to smoke. 

Pidge retracted her bayard, looking towards Hunk who already had his cannon pointed at her. Though tense and sobbing, she turned away, pointing her weapon at the closest pillar and shooting, watching it attach into the metal. She took a running start around the pillar a couple of times, narrowly missing being blasted three times. A fourth time burned the side of her face. Pidge leapt off the ground, swinging around the pillar like a tetherball on a pole. She swiftly managed to kick the cannon from Hunk’s arms, then once again kicked him as hard as she could in the throat. 

More black smoke. 

Doing a quick duck and roll technique, Pidge retracted her bayard, keeping her distance from Shiro. No...she couldn’t do it. Her eyes locked on the glowing hand of his prosthetic, making her sob even harder, squeezing her eyes shut and shaking her head. No...no! The bayard in her hand began to glow as well. But Pidge couldn’t bring herself to use it. This didn’t stop Shiro.   
The green paladin felt like she was suddenly put into autopilot as she opened her eyes - watching Shiro run towards her with full preparation to kill her, his hand at the battle ready position - and quickly threw her bayard up in defense as she stood, the bayard meeting Shiro’s hand with much force. The two energies together made the light on both of them glow brighter. Though Pidge was putting as much force as she could against Shiro’s arm, Shiro was stronger, leaving both their feet skidding. 

“I don’t… I don’t want to fight you, Shiro!” Pidge yelled in order to be heard over the louder cheers from the crowds. 

“Then don’t,” Shiro glared back at her. “Face death with open arms. Give up now and I’ll try to make it painless.” 

“No! No! Shiro, listen! I won’t fight you! I can’t! I…I l-” Pidge froze, caught off guard by what she was ready to say. Surely she was delusional at this point if she had wanted to say that… Or, maybe not. Pidge wasn’t ready to fight him. Whether it was the real Shiro or not. She tried to force more weight against the ground, staring at her feet in order to get a proper stance. She quickly looked up at Shiro, tears rushing down her face quickly. “I love you!” She sobbed. 

The words somehow seemed to take Shiro off guard, he stumbled back just some, a wide smile on his face as he busted out laughing. Just like Pidge had suspected he would….

“What kind of line is that? That is some sort of line, isn’t it? You can’t possibly think that...that I might actually love you? This is just gold. Me? Love you? Like anyone, anyone could - or does - love you, Pidge.” 

The words hit her deep. Of course she still knew that this wasn’t him. But Pidge was never open over her feelings. She never was in touch with them. She hid them the best she could. Telling Shiro she loved him? It was a big step for her. And somehow, he responded just as she feared he would. 

“Katie!” 

Pidge recognized that voice. No. There was no way. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying her hardest not to turn around, but temptation was as sweet as ice water in July. Pidge lowered her bayard slightly, reluctantly looking over her shoulder to face her brother. 

“Katie, listen,” Matt held his staff as he stared over to his sister, almost longingly. “Just give in...you can’t take anymore. Another blow will kill you. You’ve done great, sis. You’ve helped so many people. You can rest, now…” Matt shifted his staff, smiling, probably in victory as Pidge sprinted over to him, about to collapse against him. With no remorse, ‘Matt’ tightened his grip on his staff, running it through the girls’ gut.


	6. 6. by your side

“I’m not sure what Shiro is expecting us to do,” Lance poked a couple random buttons on the control panel of the green lion. The lions were self cleaning, but seeing as she hadn’t been activated in well over a week, the blood was still across the floor, and papers were strewn everywhere. “How are we supposed to talk to Green?” 

“Just shut up and look for any autopilot controls or...anything. If we have one hope of helping Pidge, it’s probably this,” Keith muttered. Of course he had his serious doubts. Especially now. Had Green and Pidge bonded enough for the lion to be able to sense when she was in trouble? If so, wouldn’t she have already gone to find her paladin? Keith hadn’t slept much since Pidge’s kidnapping. Nobody had. Except for maybe Romelle or Krolia, who both rarely knew the green paladin. 

Keith’s hand brushed across the dashboard as he slowly looked up. He had never noticed it but a lot of pictures that Pidge had had hanging up in her bedroom on the castle ship were now hanging up above the windshield. There was the one of her and Matt before the mission. Her drawing of Voltron she had tried to insist for him to hang up with his conspiracy board back on earth. He had refused. Why had he done that? Others were just notes and doodles. Some encouraging notes from Hunk, Shiro, or Allura. Doodles that probably could have been blueprints or ideas for something she was working on. One drawing in particular caught Keith’s eye. It had been done in crayon, but was impressive nonetheless. 

The drawing showed the team - Keith, Lance, Hunk, Shiro, Allura, Coran, Pidge, and even the mice - all standing together, maybe a few months after they all got acquainted, most of them smiling happily. Doodle Keith had his arms crossed and a pout on his face. But it was sweet. Childlike. Precious, even. 

Somehow, Keith always forgot the fact that Pidge was...so much younger than the rest of the team. She had only been fourteen when they were launched up to space, so was only….16 now? Damn, she was still just a kid. She wouldn’t have even been halfway done with high school. She would still have had prom, and graduation, and college. There would be so many colleges begging to recruit the small prodigy. 

Keith held onto the drawing. He felt the sudden urge to put it in his pocket and treasure it forever. He knew how Pidge was with personal space and people touching her stuff, though. Blinking lights brought Keith back to reality. He turned to see Lance messing with the switch of the fairy lights that Pidge had somehow gotten her hands on. “Would you knock it off?” Keith demanded, folding the drawing and putting it in his pocket, regardless. “We’re here to focus.” 

“I don’t know what you’re expecting me to do, Keith,” Lance glared over, his hands dropping to the side after apparently deciding he liked the lights on. “I wasn’t able to do anything before, so why should I be able to now?” 

“Because! Shiro as-- wait...what?” 

“One of us should have been with Pidge. I...I had been sitting closest to the green lion,” Lance muttered, turning away as he fiddled with the hood of his jacket. “I should have heard...I should have ran to help her. She’s one of my best friends! And now she’s gone, maybe forever. If I had tried harder, or...or thought it through--” 

“Lance,” Keith very cautiously reached out. “The avalanche knocked you unconscious - it did to all of us. We’re all beating ourselves up over this, but that doesn’t mean it was anybody's fault.” 

Keith was fully aware that he was one of the worst people when it came to comfort. But he was in the same position Lance was in. Beating him up over the girl being kidnapped. What sort of leader was he? 

Lance stared quietly. He then blinked quickly when he felt tears burn his eyes, turning and wiping them with a shaky sigh. “What...what if she doesn’t make it? Keith - Matt would be heartbroken, we all would. Her dad and mom are back on earth waiting for her to get back and….and…” 

“Lance!” Keith spoke quickly. Without thinking, he reached out, cupping Lance’s face in order to get him to look at him. “We can’t think like that. Not now. Pidge - she’s a smart, tough girl - I don’t have a doubt in my mind that we’re gonna get her back. Alive.” He took on a more gentle tone, stepping a little closer as Lance turned his body towards him, staring with wide eyes. 

“Besides, if they wanted her dead,” Keith inhaled slightly at the word. “They would have killed her already. But we both saw that photo. She’s still alive.” 

Blinking, Lance found himself actually leaning into Keith’s touch. His hands were cold. But his touch was comforting. He took a small step closer, slowly raising his hands and putting them over Keith’s as he closed his eyes. He was well aware of them now being only inches apart. He would be able to lean his head forward and find it meeting Keith’s. But before he could, the ground under them seemed to vibrate. 

The Green Lion roared to life, raising it’s head. The sudden movement sent both boys stumbling back, flying into the back wall. They wrapped their arms around each other quickly in a protective manner. 

Somehow, the boys sensed the same thing that the lion had. And it became clear that - if Pidge was still alive - she wouldn’t be for long. 

\-- 

He closed his eyes, focusing as much as he could. He was back in the arena. The sword in his hand. A large, armored foe was racing towards him at full speed. He quickly threw his hands up in defense, but not before the scene shifted. The witches’ lair. Strapped to the table was a pretty, small girl with strawberry blonde locks, covered in blood. Heavy bandages were wrapped around her entire torso. She had a needle sticking out of her arm, and another out of her neck, both leading to tubing and glowing liquid. Her eyes were rolled in the back of her head. She didn’t look good. 

The witch stood in front of her, book in hand as she chanted loudly. The pentagram surrounding the room glowed brightly. There was screaming. He knew it had to of been the girl. Though unconscious, still in plenty of pain. Once again, the scene shifted. Everything was bright. Blindingly so. In the distance sat a floating ship that looked like some sort of robobeast. Like the ones in arena but...bigger. Climbing from the ship was a armored figure without a helmet. Though he could only see the silhouette, he noted the long flowing hair. The figure yelled. Maybe in frustration. 

Ahead of him, where it was all white, a rip seemed to appear, showing the dark sky in the tear. He felt nauseous, watching in fear as the figure exited through the tear before everything faded to black. 

\-- 

“Hey, uh, Pidge?” Hunk called. “You do know that the lions are self aware, right? What are you doing?” He walked into the green lion’s hangar, raising a brow. 

Pidge was sitting on one of the paws of her lion, showing it blueprints somewhat happily. She wore Lance’s t-shirt, of all things, over a pair of her shorts. Her hair was down and brushed out. Hunk had duly noted that since she had come clean about being undercover as a boy, she had begun to let it grow out occasionally. Yet it would always take her only one or two times of getting frustrated with it before she grabbed the nearest sharp object and chopped it all off again. Now, her hair fell just slightly past her shoulders in loose waves, her glasses sitting on the bridge of her nose. 

The girl looked over as she heard Hunk speak up, a bright smile forming as she waved him over. “I know that, but I was just doing some girl time. I’m trying to bond with her like everyone else has with their lions. So we’re looking at clothes!” 

“But the lions don’t wear clothes, Pidge,” Hunk crawled onto the paw as well, looking over her shoulder questionably. The blueprints weren’t clothes, but just casual updates and scanners to attach to the lion.   
“For her, this sort of thing is clothes!” Pidge insisted, picking a folded print off the ground and showing it to him. “Tell her how gorgeous she would look in this universal contact data transmitter!” 

“Oooh. Is that part of the new Gucci line? It would look beautiful on a gorgeous lion like yourself,” Hunk definitely worked to act the part, talking in a thick French accent and touching his thumb to his forefinger in an ‘okay’ sign. He knew that the lion wouldn’t understand or care, really. But making a fool of himself was worth it when he heard Pidge nearly giggle.

Hunk looked to her, his face lighting up just slightly. “So...what is it that you’re working on?” He peered over his shoulder. “Aside from scanner shopping.” 

“You know how a few days ago I brought up the idea of cloaking for the lions?” Pidge looked over.

Hunk nodded some. “Totally. What about it?” 

“Well, I think that, with a bit of work, I could at least accomplish cloaking for the green lion in the meantime, while I find a way to do it for Voltron!” 

“Wait...really?” Hunk was actually surprised. 

“Yeah! It would just take some time - but I think with some proper controls and manipulation prospectors, it should all turn out.” 

“Wow! Pidge! That’s...great!” He spoke happily. “You really think it could work?” 

“Definitely!” 

Hunk smiled happily. “I don’t think you ever cease to amaze me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is a little short, and only a filler. But I promise that things will speed up again within the next few chapters. I'd like to think that I could wrap this up in three to five chapters. Maybe.   
> Thank you all for your support! Don't forget to subscribe and comment, it really helps with the inspiration! Again, if you have any theories, fanart, or anything else, you can submit it on Tumblr under the tag #reprogramming computer vld, or tagging my account (@snap-crackle-n-stop)!


	7. 7. all that's changed

Shiro squeezed his eyes shut, shaking. His heart hammered in his chest as he focused. He had been like this for hours. Trying like no other to locate Pidge, or at least Haggar. But the only accomplished was a severe migraine and a panic attack that he had played out in the bathroom of the lion. 

He pressed his hand against the counter, breathing heavily. He had started running the water into the sink in order to drown out the sound of his hyperventilating. Shiro hadn’t been able to see Pidge. But it felt like he had...sensed her. Felt her pain. He witnessed his own flashbacks of being strapped down to the table, arching his back as he screamed in agony and pain. His body ached like no other. He couldn’t help but continue to scream and yell, begging for it to stop. The pain where his arm had been was now coming back to haunt him. Though the prosthetic was now gone, the pain shot from his nub through into his shoulder and up his neck. Though his own screams were stuck in his head, replaying, he kept his present cries silent. Every time he closed his eyes, all he saw was that image that Kolivan had shown them. 

Coran nor Romelle had had any luck finding them a quicker path or way to get there, but had announced that they were a day’s travel away. Hunk had demanded they let his lion rest for the night before taking off again. Though Hunk was clearly more than worried about Pidge, he had explained that if they wanted to get there as fast as possible, they would have to put the lion into turbo speed. And in order for that to happen, the lion needed to charge. He explained that in the end, a night’s rest with the turbo speed flying would still end up being three hours shorter than flying all night at regular speed. 

Shiro tensed at the sound of someone knocking on the bathroom door. 

“Shiro?” Hunk’s voice came through the door. “Is everything okay?” 

He paused, staring at the door, then looking at himself in the mirror. His white hair practically glowed under the fluorescent lighting. Dark circles surrounded his tired eyes. His cheeks appeared sunken in and face shadowed. He sighed slowly. He looked like a mess. He felt like a mess. 

“Uh, yeah…” Shiro leaned over, swiping open the door to let him in. 

Hunk immediately paused, looking over his leader in worry. He looked as exhausted as Shiro felt. His skin tone was off, on a grey-ish scale. His headband, instead of being on his forehead, had tied his hair back into a ponytail, the trails falling down his back. “You okay…?” He asked him quietly. 

“Yes, Hunk. Why do you ask?” Shiro stared tiredly, raising a brow at his own friend’s appearance. 

Leaning across him, Hunk turned off the faucet, staring at the other. “That water isn’t as loud as you think it is,” he paused. “You’re a lot more worried than you’re letting anyone know, aren’t you?” He muttered. 

Blinking slowly, Shiro was prepared to lie to the other, but begun to realize that there wasn’t any use. Hunk was caring, and compassionate. That meant he saw things that most people didn’t. Especially in others. “Yeah. I suppose I am…” He finally muttered. 

“Why… How are you so good at hiding it?” Hunk finally stated. 

“What?” 

“Through this all, you’re maintaining a level head. For all we know, Pidge could be dead by now. Yet....you’re so calm.” 

“Someone has to remain calm throughout all of this, right? And…and Pidge-- she isn’t dead. I know she isn’t. Besides, if...if she was Kolivan would have informed us by now.” Shiro ran his hand through his hair, turning and leaning against the counter. 

“You may feel like you need to remain calm and collected, and you might need to. But...not for everyone. Shiro, you’ve been through a lot. A lot more than any of us at this point. There’s no doubt that this is...bringing a lot back. Nobody is expecting you to be invincible. We’re just hoping you’ll be okay.” Hunk held his gaze. “I get that you’re trying to stay - and act - like you’re a hero. And you really…really are. You’re keeping up this facade for Matt and…probably me. But you don’t have to...hide that you actually are worried. Especially when we all know that you are.” 

The man stared at the other, jaw clenched slightly. At first, Hunk became worried he said the wrong thing and upset Shiro. He knew that he should have panicked even more when he saw two tears start to dribble down Shiro’s cheeks. And he did panic. Kind of. But he was able to hide it, at least, turning nervous as he took a step forward, wrapping Shiro into a hug. 

Shiro was clearly taken back by the hug, blinking, which only caused more tears to rush down his face. It felt different to have someone so close in height hug him. Shiro pressed his head against Hunk’s shoulder, wrapping his arm around him tightly. 

“You don’t need to keep acting like you’re okay twenty-four seven…” Hunk muttered another reminder. 

Shiro looked up from Hunk’s shoulder, tears pouring from his eyes. He only wished he could believe him, 

\-- 

Her throat felt raw. Blistered. Her whole body ached like it had been completely crushed a million times. Pidge found that she couldn’t even find the strength to open her eyes, or care enough to. It had been a week and a half, and she was already considering herself a goner. How had Shiro lasted so long? How had the Uskagantans made it this far? How had her dad and brother done it?

‘Should I keep going…?’ She thought to herself. ‘There’s not anymore use of staying around. Matt and Dad are saved. They’ll more than easily find a replacement for the green paladin, if they hadn’t already. They’ll find a better replacement. Like Matt. Matt would be a great replacement.’

Pidge’s lips were dry and peeling. When she went to part her lips to sigh in pain, or give a cry, they immediately cracked, beginning to bleed. She didn’t even have the means to wipe them. She could sense the straps over her whole body. 

“It won’t be long now,” a raspy voice came through into her head, making her tense just some. “The experiments are almost done. And once they are, we can begin the next phasing.” 

The pains through Pidge’s body got worse. A lot worse. Her limp form arched sharply as a deep gasp escaped. She felt like screaming. She tried to. But all that came out was a broken cry. Her throat felt like someone was raking nails against it. She felt like every ounce of anything in her was being drained. Motivation, intelligence, any emotion. Her thoughts were becoming cloudy and she started to find it hard to remember anything. She had never understood the term ‘feeling empty’ until now. Pidge wanted to panic. Cry. Scream. But couldn’t bring herself to. 

She realized she had started to come to terms with everything that had happened. The team would find someone better. The universe would go on. She never meant much to the team. She could never connect with any of them on an emotional level. She could never trust any of them like she needed to. What was she good for? 

“Soon, little paladin,” Pidge gave a broken wheeze as she felt her face being cupped and lifted slightly. “We’ll see what’s all in that brain of yours. We’re finally going to put you to proper use.” 

Pidge thought of a blurred image of who this voice belonged to. It was all a blur. She didn’t remember the name. She...couldn’t remember the name. Pidge scolded herself for freaking out. 

She had always been told by her father when she had become too anxious or worried that she needed to remember and focus on one thing. Something that was calming to bring herself back to reality. 

She tried to calm herself, think of something. Anything! Her times with Matt when they were younger and would camp out on the trampoline. Or late nights with Lance and Hunk at the Garrison, surrounded by piles of junk food. The times with Shiro when they would watch the sunsets. Training with Keith. A n y t h i n g.

But it was all fading away. 

The witch reached out, grabbing the girls’ jaw tightly. “Tell me, little paladin. What is Voltron’s next plan?” She hissed coldly. “I could imagine that you, being the brains of all of this, is the one behind their plan?” 

Pidge paused. There was a plan. That seemed to be the only thing left of her memory. But the witch couldn’t know that. She couldn’t know the plan, or find it out. Shaking, Pidge tensed. 

She could only barely lift her head to glare at the witch. “Bite me.” 

\--

“Shiro? You look pale...are you okay?” Matt looked over at the other. 

Shiro had been the one laying down this time, his breathing heavy and face and hair starting to become greasy from lack of showering, and sweat. He slowly looked over, managing a weak smile. “Just a migraine. That’s a good sign, though. It means we’re-- argh!” 

“Shiro?!” Matt rushed to his side, watching as Shiro threw his hands over his head, shaking. 

The man squeezed his eyes shut. Visions flashed through his head. No, not visions. Memories. But not his own. He recognized Commander Holt with his wife, though they were much younger. Colleen Holt was holding a camera. Through the point of vision, Shiro realized he was much shorter. Matt stood by him. “Say ‘yay, science fair!” Commander Holt encouraged. 

The vision shifted. Shiro found himself in the dark, his heart pounding. He felt tears rushing down his face. Outside, lightning crashed through the windows. A high pitched scream sounded. Matt, now a little older - maybe only ten, or eleven, came rushing in. “Pidge, what is it?” He questioned. “Are you scared?” Shiro tensed with realization. These were Katie’s memories. 

Once again, the memories shifted. Pidge was definitely older now, close to eleven, maybe. Standing in a playground, she was surrounded by a few girls about the same way as her, all calling her names and making fun of her. One of the girls pushed her to the ground. That was enough to make Shiro tense. 

More memories came flooding through, not really in any order of age. Night’s on the rooftop of the house with Matt, going to the Smithsonian museum a few times, Disney World, too. Other’s were different. Standing in the dining room in secret while Colleen and Sam shouted in the kitchen, more being bullied by her classmates. There were even some recent ones. Watching the news after the Kerberos mission was said to have failed. Being caught by Iverson when searching through the Garrison computer system. Even as recent as the night with her and Shiro on the lion with the blanket wrapped around them. Shiro didn’t know why, but his insides felt warm when he realized she remembered that just as much as he had. 

The memories began to fade when Shiro realized his shoulders were being shaken. His eyes snapped open as he looked up, finding the worried - and stressed expression of Matt Holt staring down at him. Shiro realized he was crying, and quickly wiped his eyes, trembling. His whole body burned. The lion was once again stopped, Hunk standing behind Matt, looking just as concerned. 

“What...what was that?” Matt asked carefully. “What’s going on?” 

Shiro sat up the rest of the way, trembling with tears still coming. He didn’t want to say it, but he knew exactly what was going on and what was happening. Haggar was extracting all of Pidge’s memories. She was brainwashing her. 

\-- 

“Pidge? Can we talk?” 

The large swivel chair turned to reveal Pidge at the keyboard, being too small to even cover the whole cushion, even when sitting cross-legged. “Sure, Lance. What’s up?” 

Lance walked further into the command room, sitting beside her with a long sigh as she watched her turn slightly in her chair so she could keep looking at him. “Is there any way to tell what day...or even month it is back on Earth?” He spoke up, bringing his knees to his chest as he stared at the girl. 

Pidge slowly blinked. This wasn’t really a question for her. At the moment, with no real way to be telling time, she was just as clueless as he was. In a whole other universe, was time quicker than it was on earth? Slower? What if it was a million years into the future already? What if she missed meeting her first Earth robot? What if-- 

“I’m not sure. We could probably ask Coran. Why?” 

Lance paused, moving to cross his ankles with a weak shrug. “I dunno. I’ve been homesick lately. You know that. One of my nephews, he was a few months from turning twelve back on Earth. And my little sister was fourteen, she could of had her quinceanera already, without me there.” 

The green paladin bit her lip. “Lance, just making an estimate, I can assure that it’s more than likely been at least two years since we’ve been here….” 

“TWO YEARS? ALREADY?” Lance quickly looked close to crying. Pidge felt guilt rise in her. 

“But that’s just an estimate! I could be wrong!” She spoke quickly, worriedly. 

“But you’re never wrong!” Lance flopped backwards as he stared up at the ceiling, feeling a tightness in his throat. Pidge bit her lip, slowly walking over and laying beside him after quickly turning on the holographic map of the whole universe. Not so much for ‘you are here, your family is a billion gazillion miles away’ purposes, but because both of them, honestly, really liked to look at the stars and planets.

“Look at it this way,” she spoke quietly, looking over to him. “Dad took that recording back to earth, right? So, they know you’re coming home. You will be coming home.” 

Pidge was never able to comfort people. Process human emotions. She wasn’t empathetic at all. She was struggling. 

“How can you be so sure of that?” Lance muttered, staring up at the stars. 

“Because I’ll see to it myself. You’re too big to the universe, to your own universe to not make it back home,” Pidge said quietly to him. “I’ll see to it myself that you make it back home.” 

She paused, noticing that he still hadn’t cheered up, but was now staring with furrowed brows up at the holographic sky. 

“Plus, I bet you anything that they’re planning a huge party for you for when you do get back. You’ll be their little defensor del espacio, and they’re just waiting for you to start celebrating. You’ll be able to dance, and sing, and eat anything and everything you want,” Pidge gave a nervous smile, then getting an idea. “Here! This might cheer you up!” She stood, going to her keyboard once again. 

Not long ago, Pidge had borrowed Lance’s MP3 player that he had brought with him from Earth, somehow, and had uploaded a few songs to a storage unit, so he could play them through the speakers throughout the castle, and even choose different rooms to play it in, for when he felt either homesick, or couldn’t sleep at night. Pidge scrolled through the songs, fully aware of Lance staring at her as she pulled up the song she had been looking for. 

“Fireflies” by Owl City was always one the two could always both agree on. It played through the control room as she smiled to him with success. 

Lance raised a brow before chuckling quietly, walking over to Pidge and taking her hands, twirling her around as he ascended one arm above her head, listening to the giggle she gave. This did make him feel better. 

Though Pidge had no rhythm whatsoever, Lance continued to dance with her, finally giving in and letting her stand on his feet like he would with one of his nieces. They danced through at least five songs, mostly slower dance moves like they had been, but swing dancing once, and dancing as dorkily as possible when “All-Star” came on. 

As they came to a stop, Lance and Pidge were both laughing uncontrollably at Pidge’s failed attempt to do the sprinkler. They both ended on their butts, clutching their stomachs as they laughed. 

Lance, though his eyes were watering, smiled to Pidge as if she were currently the best thing in the universe. “Thanks, Pidge. You’re the best.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for your endless support! Sorry for the slight wait with this chapter! I found myself in a bit of a rut that I couldn't find a way to write myself out of there for a while. As always, please don't forget to subscribe and comment! Each comment really makes my day! Any fan art or theories, or anything you guys may have, you are MORE than welcome to tag with "reprogramming computer vld" on Tumblr, or tag me @snap-crackle-n-stop! Thank you!


	8. 8. Wait for me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a filler. More focus on the Uskagantans!

“Guys, wake up….” Hunk spoke over his shoulder to his two sleeping teammates. 

Shiro, as always, jolted awake, having been a very light sleeper. He looked around, standing and moving to stand behind the pilots chair. “Hunk? What is...oh.” His eyes fixated on the ship in front of them. His brows furrowed. Just as expected, the large ship was swarmed by a tiny fleet of smaller ships, probably for protection. 

Matt, who apparently was standing on his tiptoes to look over Shiro’s shoulder, immediately sat in the copilots seat, pulling up some sort of screen and tapping on it. “Initiating cloaking sequence,” he muttered to them, causing them both to look over. He raised a brow and looked up. “Pidge told me how she did it. I guess I kind of memorized it. But I don’t know how long it will hold, I’ll still need to be directing it, and Hunk is flying.” 

“So that would leave Shiro,” Hunk looked over to the third. “We’ll be able to sneak you in, but, are you sure you could find her and fend for yourselves?”

Shiro was once again fully aware of the fact that Hunk was staring at his missing prosthetic. It made him feel insecure and embarrassed. Yet also...determined. He had fought single handed before. Who’s to say that he couldn’t do it again? 

The only concern would have been getting Pidge out of there. He would need at least one arm to carry the girl. He would definitely need back up. A distraction, even. 

“Hunk, can you provide some sort of distraction while staying cloaked? I know you aren’t as big of a computer wiz as Pidge, but if you and Matt put your heads together, maybe you could cause some sort of blackout. Wait. No. The opposite of that.”

“Shiro?” Hunk frowned in confusion. 

Matt cleared his throat slightly. “Haven’t you ever wondered why the Galra ships are so dimly lighted?”

“I just thought that that was because they were evil.” 

“No, I mean, maybe…” 

“The Galra’s senses are a lot more defined than anything else. Turning the lights on full blast could blind them, even if only temporarily. Not only that, but sound, too…” Shiro interrupted. 

“So, if we could hack into their main electrical software and put up some sort of firewall, you’d be able to get right in!” Matt spoke, slamming his hands down on the chair with a nod. 

Shiro offered a somewhat nervous smile. “Let’s go get Pidge back.” 

\--

“She’s hurting her…” Anwen’s voice was quiet and raw as she rested against the cold wall of the cell. She turned her head some, pressing her forehead against the other side. One of the curses that came with creating a connection to a person for a Uskagantans, was that it gave the Uskagantan a link to the other. A link that could sense the other’s pain and, if trying, could see through their eyes. An empathy link, maybe. 

Dax’s gaze drifted towards Anwen, causing him to frown worriedly. His friend was paler than usual as she closed her eyes. Just the day before, she had been bested in the arena by some robobeast. She had an open wound on her shoulder to show for it. He, very carefully, stood, walking over to her and sitting beside her, cautiously wrapping his arms around her. Her body was in a cold sweat as she shivered, making Dax only pull her closer. 

They had barely spoken with each other beside the occasional arguments over helping the Green Paladin. But now, seeing what the link was doing to Anwen, Dax was starting to come to terms with the fact that it may have been their only way around. Either way - helping the paladin, or not - could ultimately kill Anwen. And if one of those ways did save someone’s life, Dax knew what would have to happen. 

He pressed a hand to her forehead momentarily before brushing some stray hairs from her face. Her skin was clammy. “Tell me what the plan was...and how I can help….” 

 

The thing about Uskagantans was that nearly every citizen had some sort of power. The main ones revolved around sorcery, strength, or healing. Once in a blue moon, a Uskagantan would be born with the possession of more than one of these abilities. That was the main reason Anwen had been chosen for this mission in the first place. Possessing the powers of both sorcery and healing made her more powerful than most. Out of the soldiers on their planet, Dax hadn’t been the strongest, but he had so much heart, and it had been Anwen’s choice of companion. 

Since they had been captured, Anwen felt nothing but guilt every time she looked, or even thought of him for that matter. If she had chosen someone else to come with her, or even just protected him more… Then he may have been back on Uskagantu, maybe courting some gorgeous Uskagantan. Maybe even getting married soon. But instead, he was stuck with her in a prison camp, fighting for their lives for the rest of their lives…

“Dax,” Anwen spoke in a near whisper, staring at him. “If we could help get the green paladin out of here, the Voltron may be able to help get all of us out here…” As she leaned against him, letting him guide her legs to rest on his lap, she took one of his hands, lacing their fingers cautiously. She cared for him...so much. If things were different, then maybe they could...no. Dax deserved better. “If...if this is still about it being dangerous. This would only be one life over hundreds. There shouldn’t be any question over thi--”

The male Uskagantan was listening to Anwen ramble on and on. She was always was so anxious. He listened to her speak, but wanted her to shut up. Not because she was annoying - she was actually adorable….she always had been. Dax pulled his hand from her and placed it on her cheek as she continued to ramble, moving the one supporting her by her lower back to the back of her head, pulling her close and tilting his head, letting his lips meet her. 

Dax swore there were sparks that flew. Kissing her - though they never had gotten past platonic cheek and forehead kisses - it felt...refreshing. Like a drink of cold water that nearly everyone on that ship deserved. Anwen didn’t pull away. She didn’t dare. Instead, she wrapped her arms around his neck slowly, unsure what else she may do. She tilted her head for a moment to continue the kiss before both of them pulled away at the same time. 

“We’ve been in this together since the start, Anwen. That’s not going to stop now,” he swore.   
“We’re in this together, whether you like it or not…”

Anwen was breathless. Her markings glowed brightly. She stared up at him. 

“I think I like it…” 

Dax found himself squinting and looked around, both him and Anwen standing. “Wow…I hadn’t realized you were that good of a kisser.” 

Lights flooded the cell. There was the sound of crashing and shouting from none other than the Glara. Next came a high pitched squealing through the entire ship. It was enough for Anwen to hiss some and Dax pull her close while looking around, eyes wide. 

Something big was about to happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this...somewhat short chapter. As always, don't forget to comment and subscribe! I hope all of my American followers enjoyed the Fourth of July! Next week, there will be more scarce updates as I'll be gone from the 13-17th! Also, you can find and post art, theories, and support on Tumblr under the tag #reprogramming computer vld or tag me @snap-crackle-n-stop! Soon enough, I'll be posting some art that I've done on there as well, so keep an eye out. Have a wonderful day!


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